The Body Shop's surprise buyer Natura Cosmeticos has now completed its acquisition of the health and beauty retailer. Its previous owner L'Oreal sold the British high street retailer in a deal thought to be worth £880 million. Natura Cosmeticos is Brazil's largest cosmetics company and will now add The Body Shop's global estate to its already significant operations. "This alliance creates a combination of companies that share a common purpose that goes way beyond usual businesses. A new force for good is taking shape." co-chairman of Natura Cosmeticos Guilherme Leal said.

At the same time as it was opening its first store in the Netherlands in Amsterdam, Hudson's Bay was announcing that it was exploring ways of creating value for shareholders through better use of its retail and real estate assets. The company is selling leases as well as "re-purposing existing floor space". While revenue in the second quarter was slightly up, this was due mainly to new store openings and growing digital sales. The net loss for the quarter widened to C$ 201m and comparable sales were down. Shares fell 6.8% (down 38.3% over the past 52 weeks), and the company said it was cutting 2000 jobs as part of a major restructuring.

Alibaba, the operator of China's largest online sales platform, is reportedly building its own mall to enrich the real-world shopping experience with technology and convenience. The five-storey shopping centre, which the company is calling "More Mall", is located at Alibaba's headquarters in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. It occupies a 40 000m² plot of land and is due to open in April. Last February, Alibaba founder Jack Ma announced the group's "new retail era" blending online, offline, logistics and data units across a single value chain. Its ambition is also to remake traditional retailing.

So far, seven US states have legalised recreational sales of cannabis. California has passed laws to make it legal from the beginning of 2018. Canada will be the first country to legalise the sale in June 2018. It is projected that US sales will almost triple by 2021. Needless to say, retailers are getting in on the act and exploring ways of entering the increasingly competitive market. Some are exploring innovative labelling, some the wellness market, others are engaging in research and development and a number are creating platforms with educational apps, marketing software and data analytics. According to a report by Fung Global Retail, there are many opportunities which should contribute to ongoing growth.

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Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop lifestyle and e-commerce brand is putting down permanent roots in LA's Brentwood neighborhood with the opening of Goop Lab. The 1,300-square-foot bungalow-style space (complete with a stone-tiled porch, mudroom, greenhouse, living room, kitchen and apothecary) was designedto feel like a house which complements the consumer experience and interaction with the lifestyle brand. Goop Lab will sell the lifestyle brand's own fashion and beauty products as well as Goop home decor and gardening. Additionally, customers will be able to buy products from several brand collaborations. In addition to the opening of Goop Lab next week, Paltrow announced that the first edition of her new print Goop Magazine will be available to purchase on September 19th. Goop Magazine is published by Conde Naste and will retail for $15.

Fenwick of the UK is reopening its department store in Bracknell in the new Lexicon shopping centre. The town centre redevelopment project around 50km to the west of London, was seen as an opportunity to build a store for millennials. It includes high-end digital screens as well as wine-dispensing machines. The new store's restaurants have been inspired by the experience of the food hall in its Newcastle flagship. While Fenwick still partners with Carluccio's and Caffé Nero, it has created its own patisserie and café, Mason & Rye, at the corner of the beauty hall. A wine and tapas bar Fuego is upstairs. Products are not neglected in the store with beauty brands and others tailored to millennials. Fenwick is planning to make its website transactional by the end of 2018.

The UK's first interfaith charity shop has opened up as a concession within London's world famous Selfridges department store. Commissioned by Artangel and created by writer, artist and filmmaker Miranda July, the store is run and staffed jointly by four religious charities: Islamic Relief, Jewish charity group Norwood, London Buddhist Centre, and Spitalfields Crypt Trust. The proceeds will be shared equally between the four partners, all of whom run their own charity shops.In addition, each of the charities involved is donating 2.5 per cent of their share to another charity of their choice.Items for sale are typical of those traditionally sold in charity shops – second-hand clothes, books, games, DVDs, kitchenware, toys ornaments and bric-a-brac. While being situated inside Selfridges, known for its high-end products, prices are the same as in any charity shop. The interfaith shop-in-shop is open at Selfridges until October 22.

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Nordstrom is trying something different: stores without inventory. The department store chain announced that it's preparing to roll out a new line of stores, called Nordstrom Local. The first of its kind is set to open in West Hollywood, California, on Oct. 3. The stores will be 3,000 square feet, instead of a typical Nordstrom box size of 140,000 square feet. Nordstrom Local will have eight dressing rooms where shoppers may try on clothes, but stores won't actually keep inventory for purchase in stock. Instead, Nordstrom will be pulling merchandise from other mall-anchored stores and from its website. Nordstrom's "Buy Online, Pick-Up In-Store" service will also be available and same-day delivery will be an option for shoppers who visit Nordstrom Local and select items before 2 p.m. Personal stylists services and even bars will be available instore. Salespeople and stylists at the location will also use "Nordstrom Style Boards," a new tool to create digital boards filled with personalized fashion recommendations, like a summer vacation or wedding, that customers can view on their phone and purchase directly through Nordstrom's online store. Along with such recommendations, customers can get advice by having a conversation with personal stylists through the app.

Neiman Marcus is bringing a new, youthful space to select stores and online that will feature the work of a dozen emerging fashion designers. The mix will be housed in a "boutique-like" space called the Luxe Lab, within Neiman's fine apparel areas. Designers in Luxe Lab will be merchandised in a way to encourage shopping across brands, for mix-and-match styling, and to present " key pieces to round out closet essentials," Neiman Marcus' said. In the first assortment, available in 14 Neiman Marcus stores, a handful of the items are exclusive to the retailer, from brands such as Nour Hammour, Atlantique Ascoli, Simone Rocha and Magda Butrym among others. The new project is another attempt for the department store retailer to attract younger customers in-store.

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Selfridges has become the first retailer to upcycle used coffee cups from in-store and at its headquarters into its iconic yellow shopping bags. The initiative comes after recent scientific data showing that paper coffee cups could not be recycled – 2.5 billion paper cups are used in the UK each year.

Selfridges' new upcycled bags begins its life when used disposable cups from the department store's food hall and offices are "tipped, flipped and stacked" – a process to ensure remaining liquid is drained and the lid, sleeve and cup are separated. They are then further processed, checked for quality and baled before being delivered to a paper manufacturer for reprocessing. The paper is then converted into the retailer's distinct yellow shopping bags, with the final product containing 20 per cent cup fibre, meaning one large bag will contain the equivalent of one 8oz cup. The remaining fibre of the bag will continue to be PEFC certified. Once the upcycled bags have been used, it will then be recycled in the standard paper waste stream.

"As part of our 'Buying Better, Inspiring Change' approach, we are constantly looking for new ways to make our business more efficient. One way we're doing this is by reducing the amount of single use plastics we use," Selfridges retail projects director Chris Brant said. "In 2015, as part of our Project Ocean campaign with the Zoological Society of London, we removed plastic carrier bags, microbeads from our beauty hall and single-use plastic cups and bottles from our stores and back of house."As we are already at zero waste to landfill, we are looking at further innovative ways to capture and treat recyclable materials." He added: "We're proud to be the first retailer to upcycle our cups in this way. "Our customers are becoming ever more aware of global waste issues and I think they will appreciate the story behind the bag."

The Simons department store chain of Canada is launching a new app as part of its plan to grow its e-commerce business. According to management, it will help close the gap between e-commerce and the stores. The cost was around $3 to $4 million. Among other things, it allows users to upload a picture of a product they like and see recommendations of similar items at Simons. It also incorporates loyalty cards, tracks previous in-store and online purchases, and allows shoppers to scan tags in-store for product data. Simons is also planning a high-tech robotic DC for the future. The company operates 15 stores in Canada, mostly in Quebec, and is in the midst of a $200-million national expansion.

House of Fraser has opened its first sustainable store at the Rushden Lakes shopping and leisure complex in Northamptonshire. The 64,000 sq ft store is the first House of Fraser in an out-of-town retail development. It is also its first green retail store certified to the BREEAM sustainable building standard. The architecture and store interior have been designed to connect with the beautiful natural setting of Rushden Lakes. Features include a 6m x 8m living wall that is home to more than 2,000 plants, an art installation made entirely of recycled wire and featuring local bird species.

After launching a new women's apparel brand "Find", available only in Europe, Amazon Fashion has unveiled its debut campaign for this in-house fashion label, which includes more fashion-forward pieces than is generally found among Amazon's private label apparel offerings. The campaign will run in the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain across outdoor, digital and on Amazon's own site. It aims to show the ecommerce giant has a "unique take" on current fashion trends and a "close eye on street styling". The campaign is the first major move by Amazon into the fashion market. It originally quietly launched Find back in April with a collection of fairly basic and cheap items, but is now trying to ramp up its style credentials.

Pacific Sogo Department Store, part of Far Eastern Group of Taiwan, plans to rename itself Far Eastern Sogo Department Store.  Trademark infringement dispute is the reason behind this. Trademark owner, Sogo of Japan, has agreed to the change of Pacific Sogo's branding. The change will come into effect next month. Pacific Sogo which operates 8 department stores in Taiwan and 7 in China has reported revenue of some US$1.4 bn. Far Eastern Group which also owns Far Eastern Department Stores, and The Mall, acquired ownership of Pacific in 2002.

Lord & Taylor, part of the HBC group, has extended its price match policy. If a customer finds a lower advertised price at a qualifying US-based department store competitor or from amazon.com, Lord & Taylor will match the price that is valid on that day. The same applies to matching prices on lordandtaylor.com in the stores.

Bloomingdale's will unveil a new beauty department concept aimed at Millennials at five of its locations. Situated on the contemporary floor, the concept called Glowhaus, is open-sell, with 800 products all priced at under $100 from 30 brands more often seen on social media than in department stores. Locations are SoHo and Roosevelt Field New York and San Francisco, South Coast Plaza and Sherman Oaks in California. The areas occupy 400 sq ft and have been designed by Bloomingdale's own team in conjunction with New York-based RPG.

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The upscale department store operator Galeries Lafayette will open its second China store in Shanghai's L Mall. The location will be on the east side of the river in Pudong, is approximately 23,100 square meters, and is due to open in the second half of the financial year ending Feb. 28, 2019. The company has been focusing on its international expansion, opening its first stores in Istanbul in May and Dubai just before that. It opened its current Beijing store back in 2013.

John Lewis is to offer the possibility to potential mattress purchasers to try out the mattress for a night in the store. According to the managing director of John Lewis, the retailer is not just selling a mattress but a perfect night's sleep. Three stores (London, Liverpool and Cambridge) will set up "apartments" in which the customers will be able to spend a night. It is not yet clear if they will be charged for the sleepover.

Another richest man in the world story: this time Amancio Ortega, founder of Zara. A documentary which will be released soon chronicles the fast-fashion giant's rise with footage from hidden cameras and interviews with "insiders". It gives much credit to Jose Maria Castellano, early CEO, who came from IBM and convinced the owner to computerise everything, twenty years before many competitors.

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Selfridges of London has opened its Christmas shop, 147 days before Christmas. The first phase is dedicated to London-inspired Christmas decorations for overseas shoppers. A capsule collection of Christmas food will open soon. Then phase 2 will take off on 4 September.

A provocative piece by B. Joseph Pine II, author of The Experience Economy and speaker at IADS meetings, examines the idea of stores charging admission. He gives several examples: a chain of cafés called Ziferblat in London and elsewhere, as well as the Wingtip Club in San Francisco which started life as a standard shop. It is based on the idea of retailers which offer an experience charging customers for the time they spend enjoying that experience.

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In a series of pieces for the BBC World Service about significant things that determined the economy of today, an article examines how department stores changed the way we shop. It chronicles the founding of Selfridges, the pioneering ideas of A. T. Stewart, innovations such as lifts, the changing role of women, as well as the fixed price and high volume business model.

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Japanese retailer Uniqlo is launching new vending machines in 10 locations across the US, including malls and airports. These so-called "Uniqlo To Go" machines will stock two of the most popular items from the brand's "LifeWear" collection: a thermal heat-tech T-shirt and a lightweight down jacket. These will come in different sizes and colors. Customers will be able to choose the product with a click of a button and pay using the machine. The vending machines allow Uniqlo to open in different markets and grow their presence in the US without having to commit to investing in stores. It also allows them to take advantage of foot traffic in busy airports.

In a joint private-public partnership, the food retailer from Italy Eataly and the city of Bologna are to open a "food centre" in the form of an 80 000 m² theme park. Scheduled to open in September 2017 just outside the city, it will feature a cultivation area and farms as well as 25 restaurants, a 9000m² market space and a large congress centre, the whole powered by photovoltaic panels. There will be workshops, education and events taking place in what Oscar Farinetti, the founder of Eataly, has described as the best food region of the world.